


Christmas Lights

by Catstaff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harmony & Co's Lyric Llama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:41:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21762406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catstaff/pseuds/Catstaff
Summary: Harry and Hermione have fun decorating for their first post-war Christmas.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49
Collections: Lyric Llama





	Christmas Lights

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Harry Potter, I just play with the characters and promise to put them back neatly when I'm done. This work inspired by the Taylor Swift lyrics “We could leave the Christmas lights up ‘til January, and this is our place, we make the rules, and there’s a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear. Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?” from the song Lover, written for Harmony & Co's Lyric Llama.

“You’re sure this will be okay?” Harry asked as he rigged a series of lighted snowflakes on the porch roof, with Hermione out front to check that they were evenly spaced. “I mean… Aunt Petunia always said normal people didn’t make a huge fuss over decorating, but for the tree, and that had to be out the door again in time for New Year’s Day so they’d not have to spend forever hoovering the fallen needles.”

Hermione smiled, although inside she was seething as once again her fiancé dropped a hint that his life with his relatives wasn’t all that it should have been. Every time she thought she knew him inside and out, he’d say something like that and she’d realise he was still a mystery in many ways. “Honestly, Harry, the way you’ve described your aunt and uncle in the past, I’d say that their definition of normal is more like the definition of boring. It’s our house, we get to decide the rules for it. Remember that we’re in the States now, and what’s considered usual here is different from back in Britain.” She grinned and added, “And don’t forget, we chose this property for the privacy. Close enough to town to be convenient, far enough out that doing a big display like this won’t bother any neighbours, even if lots of people drive past to see it.”

“And we’ve got magic to help with placing all the lights,” Harry chuckled. “I have to admit, I was quite impressed with those videos your dad showed us last year, knowing that those people had to lay out all those lights by hand, one string at a time. And no sticking charms to keep them in place, either!” He looked at the big old Victorian house fondly. “The house does take well to being decorated, doesn’t it?”

“I still don’t know whether to thank Dad for showing you those videos, or kill him for doing so,” Hermione laughed. “As pleased as I am that we got to see them last Christmas despite the war, it never occurred to me that your first goal after defeating Voldemort would be putting up a holiday display like this!” She levitated a lighted star and secured it to the top of the conical roof capping the round tower on the front corner of the house. “Honestly, I’m still a little surprised you didn’t go into auror training with Ron like everyone thought you would.” Given his saving-people thing, she’d expected it herself, especially since they’d been given the chance to sit their NEWTs with their yearmates even though they’d been away from Hogwarts for what should have been their seventh year.

Harry shrugged a little. “I did think about it, but honestly, I’m sick of fighting. I’m sick of being the Boy-Who-Lived-And-Became-The-Man-Who-Conquered, or whatever ridiculously hyphenated name the Prophet wants to give me this week. It’s why I asked if you’d be willing to leave Britain for a while. No one there is willing to let me live as I want, they all expect me to act in a certain way, to hold a certain post, to be their Icon of the Light – and Merlin forbid I get any of it wrong, I’ll be anything from a selfish child unwilling to accept my responsibilities to an upcoming Dark Lord. You know it as well as I do.”

She nodded. “Well, true. I thought you actually wanted to be an auror, though. Isn’t that what you told Professor McGonagall back in fifth year?”

“I said it during career counseling because I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to do at the time,” Harry said, “and then Umbridge went and stuck her nose in and Professor McGonagall stood up for me for maybe the second time ever that I can think of, so I kept on with the plan throughout sixth year more out of gratitude to her than any real desire to go into law enforcement. I have a couple of ideas of what I’d like to do, but I want to take some time and really go over my options before I decide for sure. Moving across the pond is about the only way I could think of to get that time without everyone and their cat sending letters to the Prophet to tell me what they think I ought to be doing. I’m hoping that if I stay away for a year or more, they’ll find someone else to be their poster boy. Failing that, I’ll hopefully at least look grown up enough if we go back that they’ll stop trying to tell me what to do as if I was still thirteen.”

“I’m impressed,” Hermione teased. “I don’t recall you being much of one to plan things out ahead of time.” She noticed that he didn’t actually tell her what his ideas were and couldn’t help but wonder what he had in mind. However, she also knew from experience that he’d only talk about it when he was ready.

He sighed. “At Hogwarts, I was usually reacting to whatever trouble had popped up that year, hampered by a lack of knowledge of how things worked in the wizarding world. But I had to plan things out all the time before Hogwarts, to keep under the radar at my relatives’ house. It doesn’t matter anymore. How are your studies going?”

“Quite nicely, thank you,” she smiled. “One reason I was so willing to come to the States with you is that here, I can work towards masteries in both Runes and Transfiguration at the same time – in Britain, I couldn’t do that, since they still work under the old apprenticeship system there. And with Mum and Dad talking about retirement, if we should choose to stay here permanently, they would likely move here as well, somewhere close enough to spend holidays together and so that they could spoil any future grandchildren.”

Harry smiled and slid down the ladder to give her a soft kiss. “I like that idea. Speaking of kids, would you mind if we had a party for the local schoolchildren? Show off the lights and stuff, maybe we could dress up as Father Christmas and his wife, pass out sweets and cookies, even little gifts?”

Hermione laughed. “I might have known. Sure, we can have a party – once we’ve made sure all the lights and music are working properly. Have you got the last of yours in place? I think I’m done with mine.”

“Yes, mine’s all set. Shall we flip the switch and see if it all works?” He paused and shook his head. “Oh, hold on, we need the wireless first. What channel is it again?”

“The finder site the shop recommended said 94.3, so that’s what I’ve set the transmitter at.”

“Thanks.” Harry disappeared into the house for a few minutes, returning with an older boom box that they’d found in the local thrift shop. He set the tuner and gave her a nod. “Go for it, love.”

Hermione flipped the master switch for the display. The star at the top of the tower lit up, then the signs in the corners of the yard telling passing cars what channel to tune in for the audio. The other lights all flashed on for a moment and then the broadcast started with Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Canon. She smiled at watching Harry’s gleeful reaction to the music and successfully synchronised light show, stifling a laugh as he attempted – and failed badly – to sing in falsetto to match the choir of child sopranos.

Coughing from his attempt he grinned and slipped his arm around her waist as the music switched to Appalachian Snowfall. “Thank you so much for indulging me in this, ‘Mione,” he said softly. 

“You did a wonderful job planning out the whole thing,” she replied. “You should be proud.”

“Thanks,” he said, blushing. “I am. Proud, I mean. This is… it’s like quidditch back at Hogwarts. All those years, all those idiots worshipping me as the Boy-Who-Lived, why? I mean, what could I possibly have done to defeat Voldemort back then, pelted him with the contents of my nappy? Whatever exactly happened, my mother did it, but the sheeple gave me the credit, that’s a big part of why I hated the fame back then. Quidditch, though, that was something I did and was good at, so it was okay to take pride in it, you know? Only this is even better than quidditch, because it’s something we did together.”

“Oh, Harry,” she said softly. They stood quietly, just watching the light show as the music moved through Christmas Eve in Sarajevo, A Mad Russian Christmas, First Snow, and Wizards in Winter.

The show ended with all the lights coming on, then fading out in a glitter effect as their recorded voices called, “Happy Christmas from Harry and Hermione!”

As the audio looped back to the beginning, Harry kissed his fiancée soundly. “Can we start planning that party now?” he asked eagerly, giving her puppydog eyes.

Hermione had to laugh. No matter how long she’d known Harry, he still always managed to catch her by surprise. “Yes, Harry, we can,” she told him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> On the off chance anyone isn't familiar with TSO's holiday music or synchronized light displays, I put together a YouTube playlist of the pieces mentioned in the fic. While I couldn't find a house that looked like how I pictured Harry and Hermione's place, these are the sort of displays I had in mind. And if anyone's curious (or cares!) my favorite song is Christmas Eve in Sarajevo, but my favorite display is the Wizards in Winter house. Oh, and I know not all the music and tech was available in 1998, but for the sake of the story, we're saying it was, okay? :-)
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEc9tknFF3RL1JQhr5Uqp8dUlRYUpuJ5o


End file.
